The Grandfather Project
by BeyondTh3Sea
Summary: AU, OC. Following the death of his Grandfather, James, a 23 year old man, finally discovers what lies within the project that his late relative was working on for 10 years; one that leads him down into the broken world of Rapture. The question is, will he ever return home?


**Updated Chapter – Fixed some spelling and grammatical errors.**

I'm not a person that cries that often, I can generally accept things, and not let them get to me. My grandfather's death, however, was something that hit me hard, and I won't lie to you, I've never cried harder in my life. My Grandfather was a mysterious gentleman, a kind and loving one of course, but he was unpredictable, you could never guess what he was thinking about. He never really socialised after my Grandmother died 7 years ago, he would rather sit in his study, and focus on his 'research project', which, up until about 15 minutes ago, I had no prior knowledge of its details. I was generally the only family member he would invite to his house, he seemed to think I understood him more than my Father, which I, personally, found odd, yet as I very much loved my Grandfather, I didn't mind keeping him company, we had a bond of sorts. I would go round his house once a week and talk to him for a few hours, just to give him a rest from his project for a while; I did this for around 3 years, starting from when I was 20. However, from the start of this year, I noticed a change in him, every week, he would look tired, exhausted, in fact and when I asked him why he looked as such; he would always smile and say "Don't worry, my boy, it's just the project, I'm at an important stage, that's all." Whenever I would suggest to him to take a break, his smile would fade, and he would only reply with "That is no longer a feasible option." It would always worry me slightly. It was such a secretive project, whenever I would walk past the door to his study, he would watch me intensively, stopping what he was doing, just to make sure I didn't walk in. It was, uncomfortable, knowing that my lovely Grandfather was working on a project so secretive that it hinted that something sinister lurked within it, however I didn't dare to think of it like that, it wouldn't be in his nature to be one of 'those' people. The week he died, as I was leaving, he hugged me tightly, and whispered "I will miss you when I'm gone, James." It was so unlike him, I pulled away, and laughed, "Don't say things like that, Granddad," I said "you've got years ahead of you yet!" he looked at me in the eyes, and smiled again, "Of course" He replied, I smiled back at him, and turned to walk out of the door, but his voice called out from behind me "James…" he started, "Next time we meet, I will show you what I've been working on, all these years." I turned and looked at him, his face was serious, "Alright," I said, "that'll be nice, Granddad" he smiled once again, turned around and walked back into his living room, I then left, unaware that I had just seen my Grandfather alive for the last time. His death was sudden, unexpected, and unpredictable, much like himself. The last time I had seen him, he had looked tired as usual, but he wasn't ill, there weren't any health problems hindering him, and that made his death even more shocking. He had a heart attack about 20 minutes after I had left his home, in his chair, in the study.

I found him.

I arrived at the house the next week, almost excited about learning about this project that had been in the works for years. He didn't answer the door when I knocked on it, so I thought that he had made a rare venture to the shop down the road, and I let myself in with the key which he had entrusted me with. I was the only family member with a key to his house, apart from himself. I sat in his lounge and turned the television on, sitting in the chair I usually sat in, the one in which I could see the study door out of the corner of my eye. Out of this corner, I saw that the study door was ajar. Seeing as he was going to reveal it anyway, I felt like I had permission to take a peek at the project before he officially revealed it to me. I walked over to the door, and my heart was racing, I joked with myself, "Calm down, James, it's probably designs for a flying car, or something like that." Laughing slightly, I pushed the door open, and walked into the small room, and flicked on the light. I almost passed out immediately. My Grandfather was sat in his office chair, facing the door, mouth open, eyes staring into me, I gasped, staggered backwards and held the wall behind me, trying to stop myself from collapsing. I gathered my composure and slowly stood up, I knew he was dead. There was a box on his lap; a lighthouse was drawn on the front, with a single word written below it in capitals. 'JAMES'

**Author's Note: Thanks for taking the time to read the epilogue to this story. This is my first attempt at FanFiction; therefore I would really appreciate it if you could review this section and give some constructive criticism to help me improve. Thanks again. **_**BeyondTh3Sea.**_


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